Jamie Bulger's mother speaks out on Loose Women about painful memories brought back by North East kidnapping

Ross Robertson

The mother of murdered toddler James Bulger said the recent case of two teenage girls kidnapping a child from a shop brought back painful memories of her son's abduction.

Hearing how the girls, aged 13 and 14, took a little girl from a store and lured her to a park three miles away was "horrible", James's mother Denise Fergus said.

James Bulger was just two years old when he was abducted in 1993 from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, before being tortured and murdered by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who were both aged 10.

On Tuesday, two teenage girls admitted kidnapping a two-year-old girl from a Primark store in Newcastle in April while she was on a shopping trip with her mother.

They were arrested an hour and 45 minutes after they led the confused little girl away from the shop in busy Northumberland Street.

Speaking on ITV's Loose Women, Ms Fergus said: "Just hearing stories like this, it's just horrible and I still can't believe this has happened again. I just have to relive it all."

She also told of her relief that the little girl had been found safe and well, but said it is sad to think similar cases will probably continue to happen.

She said: "I think we are more aware because of what happened to James, but do you know what? We're not going to stop this from happening, because it only takes a split-second."